Jimmie Johnson turned in a dominating performance at Pocono Raceway on Sunday, starting on the pole and leading most of the way en route to a victory in the Party in the Poconos 400 NASCAR Sprint Cup Series race.
Greg Biffle finished second, Dale Earnhardt Jr. was third, Tony Stewart took fourth and Ryan Newman rounded out the top five.
The yellow flag waved only once in the first 100 laps of the race, but a rash of four cautions allowed drivers to increase their fuel mileage and go the rest of the 160 laps without another stop.
Johnson retook the lead from Newman on the restart that followed a caution with 35 laps to go. Then, on a restart after a caution that came out with 23 laps to go, Earnhardt and Kyle Busch got by Newman to move into second and third behind Johnson.
Earnhardt and Busch ran second and third until Biffle passed them both, going from fourth to second on the final restart of the race after a caution that came out with six laps to go. Earnhardt held on for third and Busch dropped back to sixth at the finish.
Johnson lost several positions at the start of the race when Carl Edwards and Matt Kenseth both passed him on the first lap. But on Lap 10, Johnson moved back into the lead and stayed at the front for most of the remainder of the race.
Newman moved up front for a while based on pit strategy, staying out while other cars headed down pit road during a caution on lap 65. But when the race went back to green, Johnson reclaimed the lead.
Staying out during the caution put Newman off sequence from the rest of the front-runners, necessitating a green-flag stop earlier than his competitors on lap 91. Others made their stops around lap 100.
Kurt Busch finished seventh Denny Hamlin eighth, Kevin Harvick ninth and Joey Logano 10th.
NOTES: Johnson’s win was the 63rd of his career and his third at Pocono. It was also his third win of the season, tying him with Matt Kenseth for most victories this year. … Biffle’s runner-up finish propelled him into the top 10 of the championship points standings. … Johnson led a race-high 128 laps. He also led the most last weekend at Dover (Del.) International Speedway but was penalized for jumping a restart late in that race. … Ricky Stenhouse Jr. was the highest-finishing rookie in 26th
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